A simplified approach for vulnerability assessment in moderate-to-low seismic hazard regions: application to Grenoble (France)

Due to the moderate seismic risks in France, the building vulnerability assessment methods developed for high seismic risk countries could not easily be used here because of their cost and the low-risk perception among the public and officials. A light vulnerability assessment method is proposed and tested in Grenoble (France), based on classes and scores provided in the GNDT method but simplified in terms of visual screening and number of structural parameters used. Compared to the RiskUE method, the damage obtained by our approach shows that 90% of buildings have residuals smaller than 0.2, i.e. one grade of the EMS98 damage scale. A large scale survey is devised and conducted among the inhabitants of Grenoble in order to collect the main structural parameters. By comparing the results from the survey to the historical urbanization of Grenoble and to expert surveys performed in two urban districts, the information useful for the light method of vulnerability assessment can be rapidly collected by non-experts reducing substantially the estimate cost. The average damage is then computed using the GNDT formula considering the probable intensities which could be observed in Grenoble (VII and VIII). The average damage reaches 0.4 in the oldest part of Grenoble mainly made of masonry buildings and 0.2 in reinforced concrete suburbs where reinforced concrete predominates. The results are a relative vulnerability assessment that provides useful initial information for the urban zones of Grenoble where the vulnerability is higher. This method can be used to classify the seismic vulnerability in wide seismic-prone regions to a fair degree of accuracy and at low cost.     

Investigation of regional climate models’ internal variability with a ten-member ensemble of 10-year simulations over a large domain

Previous investigations on regional climate models’ (RCM) internal variability (IV) were limited owing to small ensembles, short simulations and small domains. The present work extends previous studies with a ten-member ensemble of 10-year simulations performed with the Canadian Regional Climate Model over a large domain covering North America. The results show that the IV has no long-term tendency but rather fluctuates in time following the synoptic situation within the domain. The IV of mean-sea-level pressure (MSLP) and screen temperature (ST) show a small annual cycle with larger values in spring, which differs from previous studies. For precipitation (PCP), the IV shows a clear annual cycle with larger values in summer, as previously reported. The 10-year climatology of the IV for MSLP and ST shows a well-defined spatial distribution with larger values in the northeast of the domain, near the outflow boundary. A comparison of the IV of MSLP and ST in summer with the transient-eddy variance reveals that the IV is close to its maximum in a small region near the outflow boundary. Same analysis for PCP in summer shows that the IV reaches its maximum in most parts of the domain, except for a small region on the western side near the inflow boundary. Finally, a comparison of the 10-year climate of each simulation of the ensemble showed that the IV may have a significant impact on the climatology of some variables.     

The ECORS-Truc Vert’08 nearshore field experiment: presentation of a three-dimensional morphologic system in a macro-tidal environment during consecutive extreme storm conditions

A large multi-institutional nearshore field experiment was conducted at Truc Vert, on the Atlantic coast of France in early 2008. Truc Vert’08 was designed to measure beach change on a long, sandy stretch of coast without engineering works with emphasis on large winter waves (offshore significant wave height up to 8 m), a three-dimensional morphology, and macro-tidal conditions. Nearshore wave transformation, circulation and bathymetric changes involve coupled processes at many spatial and temporal scales thus implying the need to improve our knowledge for the full spectrum of scales to achieve a comprehensive view of the natural system. This experiment is unique when compared with existing experiments because of the simultaneous investigation of processes at different scales, both spatially (from ripples to sand banks) and temporally (from single swash events to several spring-neap tidal cycles, including a major storm event). The purpose of this paper is to provide background information on the experiment by providing detailed presentation of the instrument layout and snapshots of preliminary results.     

Alteration geochemistry of the Nopal I uranium deposit (Sierra Peña Blanca,Mexico), a natural analogue for a radioactive waste repository in volcanic tuffs

Natural analogues provide an approach to characterize and test the long‐term modelling of a repository performance. This article presents geochemical information about the alteration conditions of the Nopal I uranium deposit, Mexico, an analogue for the proposed Yucca Mountain radioactive waste repository. Mineralization and hydrothermal alteration of volcanic tuffs are contemporaneous, according to petrographic observations. Trace element geochemistry (U, Th, REE) provides evidence for local mobilization of uranium under oxidizing conditions and further precipitation under reducing conditions. O‐ and H‐isotope geochemistry of kaolinite, smectite, opal and calcite suggests that argillic alteration proceeded at shallow depth with meteoric water at 25–75 °C, a low‐temperature context, unusual for volcanic‐hosted uranium deposits. This temperature range is compatible with some post‐closure evolution models of the proposed Yucca Mountain repository.     

The information system of the French Peatland Observation Service: Service National d'Observation Tourbières – A valuable tool to assess the impact of global changes on the hydrology and biogeochemistry of temperate peatlands through long term monitoring

Mitigating and adapting to global changes requires a better understanding of the response of the Biosphere to these environmental variations. Human disturbances and their effects act in the long term (decades to centuries) and consequently, a similar time frame is needed to fully understand the hydrological and biogeochemical functioning of a natural system. To this end, the ‘Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique’ (CNRS) promotes and certifies long-term monitoring tools called national observation services or ‘Service National d'Observation’ (SNO) in a large range of hydrological and biogeochemical systems (e.g., cryosphere, catchments, aquifers). The SNO investigating peatlands, the SNO ‘Tourbières’, was certified in 2011 ( https://www.sno-tourbieres.cnrs.fr/ ). Peatlands are mostly found in the high latitudes of the northern hemisphere and French peatlands are located in the southern part of this area. Thus, they are located in environmental conditions that will occur in northern peatlands in coming decades or centuries and can be considered as sentinels. The SNO Tourbières is composed of four peatlands: La Guette (lowland central France), Landemarais (lowland oceanic western France), Frasne (upland continental eastern France) and Bernadouze (upland southern France). Thirty target variables are monitored to study the hydrological and biogeochemical functioning of the sites. They are grouped into four datasets: hydrology, fluvial export of organic matter, greenhouse gas fluxes and meteorology/soil physics. The data from all sites follow a common processing chain from the sensors to the public repository. The raw data are stored on an FTP server. After operator or automatic processing, data are stored in a database, from which a web application extracts the data to make them available ( https://data-snot.cnrs.fr/data-access/ ). Each year at least, an archive of each dataset is stored in Zenodo, with a digital object identifier (DOI) attribution ( https://zenodo.org/communities/sno_tourbieres_data/ ).     

Current state and trends in Canadian Arctic marine ecosystems: II. Heterotrophic food web, pelagic-benthic coupling, and biodiversity

As part of the Canadian contribution to the International Polar Year (IPY), several major international research programs have focused on offshore arctic marine ecosystems. The general goal of these projects was to improve our understanding of how the response of arctic marine ecosystems to climate warming will alter food web structure and ecosystem services provided to Northerners. At least four key findings from these projects relating to arctic heterotrophic food web, pelagic-benthic coupling and biodiversity have emerged: (1) Contrary to a long-standing paradigm of dormant ecosystems during the long arctic winter, major food web components showed relatively high level of winter activity, well before the spring release of ice algae and subsequent phytoplankton bloom. Such phenological plasticity among key secondary producers like zooplankton may thus narrow the risks of extreme mismatch between primary production and secondary production in an increasingly variable arctic environment. (2) Tight pelagic-benthic coupling and consequent recycling of nutrients at the seafloor characterize specific regions of the Canadian Arctic, such as the North Water polynya and Lancaster Sound. The latter constitute hot spots of benthic ecosystem functioning compared to regions where zooplankton-mediated processes weaken the pelagic-benthic coupling. (3) In contrast with another widely shared assumption of lower biodiversity, arctic marine biodiversity is comparable to that reported off Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Canada, albeit threatened by the potential colonization of subarctic species. (4) The rapid decrease of summer sea-ice cover allows increasing numbers of killer whales to use the Canadian High Arctic as a hunting ground. The stronger presence of this species, bound to become a new apex predator of arctic seas, will likely affect populations of endemic arctic marine mammals such as the narwhal, bowhead, and beluga whales.     

Lateglacial palaeoenvironments and palaeoclimates from Conty and Houdancourt, northern France, reconstructed from Beetle remains

Two Lateglacial insect sequences are described (a) from Conty, in the Selle valley and (b) from Houdancourt in the Oise valley, both in northern France. These investigations are part of a multidisciplinary investigation involving archaeology, sedimentology, geomorphology, geochronology and palaeontology (pollen, macroscopic plant remains, vertebrates, molluscs and insect fossils). The sequences of insect assemblages date from the latter part of the Bølling to the end of the Allerød periods. Environmental analysis of these faunas shows that rivers with riffles and pools meandered across flood plains. The river was extensively fringed with reedy vegetation. The only trees growing close to the river were of Salix and/or Populus. All the insect assemblages indicate that the thermal climates during the Bølling and Allerød periods were similar to one another and during both periods were very nearly as warm as that of the present day. No insect fossils were recovered from the sediments attributed to the Older Dryas interval though other evidence from these sites suggests that this event was decidedly colder than those immediately preceding and succeeding it. Comparisons are made between Lateglacial climatic patterns in northern France with those elsewhere in Europe.     

Challenges for integrated water resources management

During the past century, while world population tripled, the use of water increased sixfold. Irrigation accounts for 70% of global water withdrawals, industry for 20%, and municipal use for 10%. To meet the water resources challenges, a series of transitions is under way, with major implications for water management. The present paper underlines the major issues and the new role of engineers in charge of development and project management.     

Accuracy and efficiency of time integration methods for 1D diffusive wave equation

The diffusive wave approximation of the Saint-Venant equations is commonly used in hydrological models to describe surface flow processes. Numerous numerical approaches can be used to solve this highly nonlinear equation. Nonlinear time integration schemes—also called methods of lines (MOL)—were proven very efficient to solve other nonlinear problems in geosciences but were never considered to deal with surface flow modeling with the diffusive wave equation. In this paper, we study the relative performance of different time and space integration schemes by comparing the results obtained with classical approaches and with nonlinear time integration approaches. The results show that (i) the integration method with a higher order in space shows high accuracy regarding an integrated indicator such as the global mass balance error but is less accurate regarding local indicators, and (ii) nonlinear time integration techniques perform better than classical ones. Overall, it seems that integration techniques combining nonlinear time integration and a low spatial order need to be considered when developing hydrological modeling tools owing to their simplicity of implementation and very good performance.